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De Gulden Passer. Jaargang 61-63 (1983-1985)

De Gulden Passer. Jaargang 61-63

(1983-1985)– [tijdschrift] Gulden Passer, De–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

Vorige Volgende

Poems, pictures and the press
Observations on some Abraham Verhoeven newsletters (1620-3621)
by Anna E.C. Simoni
(Teddington - Groot-Brittannië)

Old newspapers make fascinating reading, none more so than the very characteristic small quarto, usually only four-leaf pamphlets published by Abraham Verhoeven at Antwerp in the first half of the seventeenth century. The controversies over definition and origin of these and other early news reports have themselves bccome a matter of history. Why, for example, should only dated or numbered and dated issues of Verhoeven's publications, and not also the undated and unnumbered ones be included in the composite variously known as his Tijdingen, Nieuwe tijdingen or Gazette? Tidiness makes life easier for the bibliographer, but in a survey of such important historical material the restriction it imposes is really unjustifiable. It is also arbitrary, for Verhoeven had published copiously before he adopted the habit of precisely dating and later of numbering his issues. As far as I am aware no complete set of all known Verhoeven newsletters exists in any single library to allow a truly comprehensive description to be made in one and the same place. The nearest approach to a full bibliography is the detailed list of dated and numbered-and-dated issues only which the Bibliotheca Belgica1 provides under the heading Verhoeven (vol. V. pp. 476-670), followed by an anonymous article (pp. 671-680) which refutes the views of Alphonse Goovaerts2. The writer, who was also the compiler of the bibliographical list, has been identified

by F. Jos. vanden Branden3 as Theodoor Arnold who has of course done an enormous amount of work. Where Goovaerts's enthusiasm had run away with him in claiming too much for Verhoeven, Arnold seems however to err in the other direction and to deny Verhoeven sume of the merits he undoubtedly possessed. I am too grateful for the valuable results of their labours to argue with earlier bibliographers. All I wish to do here is to add some random observations arising front leafmg through issues between late 1620 and niid-1621 in the British Library4.

I. General-remarks.

It is noticeable that the tille of any particular Verhoeven issue is no more indicative of its contents than is the headline of a modern newspaper. Humdrum events in London or Madrid may be read about in issues promising the purchaser only sensational news of battles or earthquakes. Ideally, a full bibliography of these newsletters would therefore present not only the titles of them all, as the Bibliotheca Belgica does so admirably for so many of them with an added short title in French as appropriate5, but it would also have an index of subject matter, places and persons which occur in them with or without mention on titlepages and which are otherwise extremely hard to find, Another feature of these publications, small though they are, is that they do not only report news: of battles, treaties, the death of kings, the arrival of troops or ships, and so on, but at finies contain short biographical sketches of public figures, reflect on causes and conséquences of certain situations, or just give free rein to invective whether expressed in long tirades or just the occasional snide aside. This dichotomy between ‘straight’ news and comment has been remarked upon by earlier writers,

especially by Maurits Sabbe6 who is then elaborated by Rombauts7 and Vermaseren8, but I cannot agree with them in dividing the lot into two distinct series according to this characterisation. True, many issues will fall wholly into the une or the other category; hut quite often what appears to be a plain report of events is interrupted or, more frequently, supplemented by comment: the sting in the tail. And this, as often as not, is in verse as are many complete issues.

Is it poetry? Well, yes and no. Some verses are clumsy, others have the dash and polish of a more experienced author. Few could aspire to rank with the glories of Southern Netherlands literature, nor, of course, were they ever imended to do so. They are part of what would now be called journalism, written for the moment, and the vitality of some of them is an unexpected bonus. I could not even hazard a guess at the effect such verse journalism might have had at the time. Had it been quite unsuccessful I doubt whether Verhoeven or his backer would have persisted in printing so much of it. Then there are the illustrations. It is true they are on the whole of poor quality, are repeated over and over again which does not improve their appearance. Many are used indiscriminately for anything even remotely comparable or not related at all to the subject matter of their issue. But it is unfair to dismiss them all as not so much as deserving the name of illustrations as Arnold has done9. They are more than decorative clements, a purpose for which Verhoeven has his store of printers’ flowers, borders and the like: at the lowest level they would have attracted (he potential reader's attention with an immediate appeal to the eye informing hun that there has been another battle, another earthquake, an execution, an escape from prison in a travelling trunk (such an illustration graces the titlepage of the issue describing the escape from Loevestein of Grotius in what was actually a bookchest)10, and in this

way the titlepage woodcuts would have helped sales, At other times they are highly original and effective works of art on a small scale, In some instances these can be related to engravings of which they are usually copies. Perhaps most of the better ones could be so identified: they await exploration.

It is only to be expected that Verhoeven's news reports should be strongly partisan. Firm adherence to Roman Catholicism could be taken for granted; support for the Spanish crown was an equal necessity lor survival in the Antwerp of the time. All the issues had tobe approved by the censor and are duly signed to that effect. Verhoeven and his authors are also fervent admirent of the Emperor whose claims are always represented as just, without any shadow of doubt. As the Twelve Years' Truce draws to its dose, enmity towards the United Provinces is often sharply expressed and there is a complacent tone of ‘Schadenfreude’ in news of the religious divisions and conflicts, especially when they lead to violence, there, contrasted with the peaceful unity prevailing in tbc Spanish Provinces - whose imposition under Philip II is so aptly defined by Schiller as Die Ruhe eines Friedhofs. Political or religious dissent was completely suppressed in the South; intellectually though, fortunately not all was dead. As the Bohemian troubles develop and lead into the Thirty Years' War the princes and generals on the Emperor's side are of course shown in Verhoeven's newsletters as unblemished heroes, while Frederick, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, and his allies are seen as villains, their religion abhorrent, their deeds ever dictated by ambition, greed and sheer bloodlust. Often this was true enough and was matched only and at times surpassed by the deeds of those whiter than white defenders of the established order. Frederick was defeated in the battle of the White Mountain outside Prague on 8 November 1620, losing that city and all Bohemia and thus his crown. This event opened the floodgates to satirists in word and image all over Catholic Europe and Verhoeven's press is full of their work. Hymns of praise for the victory, epigrams un the virtues of the victors and the depravity of the vanquished, cartoons and mockery, especially of Frederick himself, continue for many months. It is possible to trace a number of exchanges across frontiers and language barriers, and many more than are known so far are no doubt awaiting recognition, Such cross fertilisation went on between the Verhoeven newsletters and German broadsides and pamphlets in both directions.

II. Remarks on separate issues.

1. An example of only verbal ‘comment’, joined to more sober reporting, can be found in number 98 of the year 1621, published on 30 June. The writer from the United Provinces has a personal manner of writing shrewdly, briskly, with an admixture of malicious wit which one begins to recognise, and in this letter he has his longue in his cheek as he tells, amid general factual matters, that Frederick, who had by then taken refuge in Holland, was having tents made with Bohemian materials. These are however hard to obtain because the Bohemian peasants are poor and need money before they can produce the goods. But Frederick has no means himself and thus there can he no tents: ‘Fratello manquo quatrino manquo favori’, moralises the correspondent. Earlier, in number 92 of 17 June, he had written of Frederick: ‘Hy beghint te stincken in Hollandt, Engelandt, &c. Si nihil attuleris, ibis hornere foras, ‘Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris’ (He is beginning to stink in Holland, England, etc. Without cash you go out head first, when times are bad you're on your own). On the oppression suffered by the Remonstrants at the hands of the strict Calvinist Contra-Remonstrants the same letter contains the verse reflection: ‘Is dat nv hier vrydom van conscientie? De Duyvel haelt de pestilentie’ (Can conscience thus in freedom dwell? The Devil take the plague to hell). A straightforward transfer from engraved broadside to titlepage woodcut, both with the same poem, is to be seen in the piece entitled Beclach gedaen vanden Praechschen hoff-kock, vande Wintermaent des Jaers, ouer den verdreuen Coninck van Bohemen (Lament uttered by the court chef of Prague, in November this year, about the expelled King of Bohemia). The Atlas van Stolk11, no. 1487, describes the single sheet issue as an engraving surrounded by text, and it is the satne copy as the one described in Muller's Historieplaten12, S1431 C. The engraving is the work of Verhoeven's plate press. The quarto pamphlet issue, dated 1621 but hearing no precise date or number, shows an unusually good and large woodeut on the titfepage. It has heen reproduced by Goovaerts in his Origine, but not in his Oorsprong, and it is not discussed in the text of either. The pamphlet is fully described

in the Bibliotheca Belgica, but separately from the Verhoeven entry, under the heading Beclach (no. B303)13. All I should like to add to that account, apart from pointing out the related engraving, is that the poem is as forceful as the image, the whole making a brilliant satire. A corresponding Germait engraving is entitled Pragischer Hofe-Koch, vom Wintermonat, im Jahr 162014, also surrounded by a satirical poem. Several variants are known of this German piece which have been published by Wolkan15 and described by Coupe16, without reference to the Antwerp publications. The late date of the Beclach in newsletter form suggests that the Verhoeven edition is derived from one of the German engraved sheets which are likely to have been issued in November, the Wintermonth, shortly after Frederick's defeat and flight from Prague. The idea of the cook who, unaware of the recent disaster, is left with the elaborate dishes prepared for his master and his friends who have just departed in a hurry, was certainly successful: it was used again in 1632, this time by the victorious Protestants against the vanquished Catholics. The parody Coquus Pragensis redux. Der widerkommende Pragische Koch is reproduced by Coupe17: the engraving with it is a close copy of that of 1620 and the poem is also modelled on its prodecessor. Though probably derived from a German source, the Beclach is no literal translation and can perfectly well stand on its own. If this chef was as good at his trade as he is at expressing himself, at any rate in the Dutch version, Frederick would have done better to take him with him into exile rather than leave him to lament his fate in Prague, driven to invite the Bavarians to eat rather than to see his good efforts wasted.

3. While the poems are usually anonymous, there is one famous instance of a motto suplied for one of a series of poems published on 5 December 1620 in celebration of the victory of the White Mountain which had

previously been reported in the issues of 26 and 27 November, with the rejoicings caused by the news in various Catholic cities reported on the 28th. The news had come to Antwerp on the 23rd of November, the eve, as it happened, of the day dedicated to St. Albert. It was therefore easy for the people of the Southern Netherlands to discover the hand of providence in this connection with their ruler, the Archduke Albert. The poems are grouped together in the Dutch language issue under the title Aen Zijn Hoocheyt and under A Son Alteze in the French language issue of the same date. Their respective signatures are Ff for the Dutch and Hh for the French, separated by a list on signature Gg of German princes who had rallied to the winning side both before and after the victory. These issues are all described in the Bibliotheca Belgica. There are differences between the two versions of the poems: the Dutch one has seven epigrams addressed to different individuals, mainly the leaders of the Catholic forces, but two are exhortations to Frederick. Of these the French version contains what are near enough the same epigrams to the five victors and the second of the two to the loser. After these shorter pieces the French version prints a Latin inscription taken from a monument that must have been erected voor den Tapessiers pant, i.e. outside the Tapestry Weavers' hall, in honour of the Emperor. The Dutch version has instead the text of a sonnet and its envoi, entitled Op de Groote Merkt te Antwerpen. Ecce Gratia, Olyf-Tack, which has been correctly explained as the offering of the Chamber of Rhetoric ‘The Olive Branch’. Maurits Sabbe18 believes that it was recited by the Chamber on the Market Square on the occasion of the victory celebrations, which may very well be so. Sabbe does not say whether he thinks that the other poems were also recited then and there and that they too were the work of members of the Chamber which I consider to be very likely. The same recitation would also have included the poems in French. Another possibility could be that the poems, in both languages, were inscribed on banners or posters and displayed on the Market Square or perhaps along the route of the procession which in that case would also have passed the ‘monument’ with the Latin inscription. The sonnet and envoi are signed with the motto Liefde doet hopen, long recognised as that of the Chamber's ‘factor’, or general dogsbody, Jan Ysermans. Strangely enough, no one seems to have been able to find the same poem in Yser-

mans's collected verse published in 1628 at Antwerp with the title Triumphus Cupidinis. Nor has Lode Baekelmans19 in his fascinating study of the life and works of the poet and servant of this Chamber, Jan Ysermans, facteur van de Olijftack, 1590-1631 paid any attention to this piece and its earlier appearance in print. In the Triumphus Cupidinis the sonnet is found on pp.331-334 with a new title: Sonet. Ter eeren den Hoogh-gheboren, wijsen, Aldermachtichsten, Victorieusten, ende Doorluchtichsten Prince Fardinandus van Oostenryck, onsen Alder-ghenadichsten Keyser, Ouer de Victorie van den velt-slach en in-nemen der wijt-beroemste Stadt van Prage (Sonnet. In honour of the high-born, wise, all-powerful, most victorious, and most illustrious Prince Ferdinand of Austria, our most gracious Emperor, on the victory in the battle and conquest of the far-famed city of Prague). Thus it is no longer inscribed to the Archduke who had died in 1621, but to Ferdinand himself. But the text is still the same, barring some improvements in spelling, and it is still followed by its envoi in which the image of the olive and its oil is used for the simile of virtue asserting itself by rising to the top: from the kitchen to politics, with a pun on the name of the Chamber thrown in for good measure.

4. Parallel issues in two languages such as the poems Aen Zijn Hoocheyt/A Son Alteze are rare, but this one is not unique. Famous for its eventual wide currency and deserving also to be appreciated for its effective, if somewhat coarse wit is the satire of the Postillon. Mirjam Bohatcová20 has called it perhaps the most popular of all the Frederick ballads of which she reproduces three in her Irrgarten der Schicksale21: two German versions and one Dutch which she assumes to be a derivative of the former. Sabbe argues for the primogeniture of a French version although he admits to some doubt22. In fact, the version which he reprints, taken from the copy in the Royal Library, The Hague, Knuttel23 1341, is itself an adaptation of an earlier French edition which states in so many words that it is ‘Traduict de Flameng’, just as at least one of the German versions, entitled Extra

ordinari Postilion zu suchn den von Prag verlohrnen Palatin24, asserts ‘Erstlich gedruckt zu Antorff, im Jahr M.DC.XXI’. Could the Dutch version therefore claim the distinction of having fathered a large family of postilions? There can be no certainty on this point and, if for no other reason, the timelag between Frederick's defeat and the poem describing his disappearance from the scene in Dutch, dated 1621, makes it unlikely that this is the first of them all. There are several German engraved versions and one or more of them could precede the first Dutch engraved issue which then led to the further Dutch issue as newsletter, the French engraved and newsletter issues and the German edition or editions which declare an Antwerp parentage or have it without saying so. But who published the first Dutch version? One Dutch language broadside was published at Antwerp without name of printer, but with his address, the ‘Huyvetterstraet’, and has therefore been attributed to Jan Boel25 who lived there. This version, Den Curieusen Postellioen uyt ghesonden by de Frederijke Liefhebbers, om te soecken den opghevvorpen Coninck van Bohemen, nu onlanckx veriacht voor Praghe, is reproduced by Bohatcová26. It has a fine and detailed engraving of the rider with lantern and broom leaving the town and encountering a citizen with a long staff who asks him, engraved in mirror writing, ‘Waer soo haestig?’ (Whither in such haste?). His answer is ‘Ick doorloop alle hoecken den Palatyn te soecken’ (I search with all dispatch the Palatine to catch). The poem below the engraving then tells the messenger's tale in the words ‘Ic moet alomme gaen loopē soecken in alle canten, in alle hoecken’ (I have to rummage and to chase in nooks and crannies all over the place). The last stanza begins ‘Ick ben moede van soo te soecken, hoort ghy al die schuylt in hoecken...’ (I'm sick of searching thus far and wide, listen all ye in holes that hide...). When the quarto newsletter of the Postilion was published on 18 January 1621 it bore the title Postillioen vvtghesonden om te soecken den veriaegdē Coninck van Praeghe.

The Bibliotheca Belgica description refers to a broadside which the writer believes to be a revised and enlarged edition of this newsletter. It could as easily precede or be a direct descendant of the plate attributed to Boel. It has the title Claere afbeeldinghe van het groot vvijn-vadt tot Heydelberch and contains, in addition to this picture, also Postillioen, vvtgesonden om te soecken den nieuwen ghepretendeerden Coninck van Bohemen, nv onlanckx veriaecht voor Prage. It has Abraham Verhoeven's imprint and the date 1621. Of this the British Library possesses an edition with French text. The engraving is in two fields, the upper part shorter and divided into three compartments. The largest, in the centre, shows a view of Heidelberg, the enormous tun placed prominently in the foreground, beside it a finely dressed couple, perhaps Frederick and Elizabeth in all their glory. The view is flanked by portraits of Frederick and Bethlehem Gabor. The lower part shows a close-up of the tun from which the ‘Postillion’ is galloping away at full speed. Inscriptions engraved in both parts are partly Dutch, partly German in the upper, Dutch only in the lower, a sure sign that the Dutch edition preceded the French text which has in any case been printed separately and pasted on to the lower edge of the engraving. This text has again been divided into a top and a bottom field. The larger part, on top, has four columns. The first three have the title Postillion, depesché du Conte de Bucquoy pour chercher le Palatin Roy de Boheme. Traduict de Flameng en François l'an M.DC.XXL. The fourth column contains a separate poem, Le Catechisme du Palatin. The text in the lower field is entitled Claire & vraye pourtraicture du grand tonneau a vin de Heydelberch, faict faire par le Palatin auec le pourtraict de Fredericus Palatin & de son compagnon Bethlehem Gabor. The imprint reads ‘A Anuers, chez Abraham Verhoeuen, demeurant sur la Lombaerde Veste, au Soleil d'Or, 1621’ and is followed by tbe censor's signature: ‘V.C.D.W.A.’, i.e. Vidit Cornelis de Witte Archidiaconus. The postilion poem begins ‘Ie suis le grand Postillion, Qui en boste, & esperon, Est despeché de Bucquoy, Pour chercher le nouueau Roy’, and the last stanza is ‘Ie suis las de tant chercher Tant randir & tant crier, Ie me trouue hors d'haleine, Pour Dieu, soulagez ma peine, Monstré moy doncq le gallant, Vous en aurez les blancq gandts, Dictes, n'aues vous pas veu, Le Palatin, qui est perdu?’

The French small two-leaf quarto pamphlet at the Royal Library in The Hague is obviously a reprint of this. There are some slight changes in words and spelling: ‘Postillon pour chercher le Roy dechassé de Prague. Ie suis le grand Postillon qui en boste & esperon Est depeché toutes les foy Pour chercher le nouueau Roy... Ie suis las de tant cercher, Tant randir & tant

crier, Ie me trouue hors d'aleine, Pour Dieu soulagez ma peine: Monstre moy donques le galan, vous en aurez le blan guan, etc.’ The Verhoeven address in the colophon, printed in roman, after the Iouxte la copie in italics, is intentionally ambiguous as if it were a Verhoeven reprint itself. But this is most improbable; the whole style of the pamphlet is completely unlike a Verhoeven publication27. Among the various German versions the one called PostBott28 is dated 1621 and therefore also no nearer the date of Frederick's flight from Prague than the Antwerp editions. Another is called Den Curier Postellion welcher aussreitt den verlornen Konig Palatein zu suchen29. They vary also among themselves in words, spelling, length and style of illustration which moves from a strip cartoon showing the messenger meeting ail the different persons whorn he asks whether they have seen Frederick, to a fine view of the rider in a landscape, a horseman and dog and a carriage drawn by two horses with two passengere in it and the coachman flicking his whip to make a highly decorative flourish. The idea of mocking a defeated and fugitive opponent by sending out a messenger to look for him everywhere, even among the down-and-outs in dosshouses and police cells, survived the events which had provoked it: the Postilion was adapted for later use and is found in several versions in 1631, 1632 looking for Tilly30.

5. Another piece with similar ramifications is represented in Verhoeven's newsletters by the pamphlet Coninck Feest, published as number 8 in January 1621, perhaps to coincide with the feast of the Epiphany. A German broadside, Newes Koͤnig Fest, dated 1621, shows a stage-like setting of a reception room in a palace with a row of important persons in a semicircle within it. They are numbered as are the verses put into their mouths printed below31. The whole has the form of a tableau vivant in which

each character says his four lines in turn without any resultant action. Frederick is in the centre of the row, at his sides are both supporters and enemies, each named and given his function together with his verses such as secretary, counsellor, doctor (this is the King of Spain), father confessor (the Emperor), cook (Prince Maurice of Orange), and so on. The last one, number 17, is the fool (Bethlehem Gabor), seen coming in from the right. The verses are in no way distinguished, but perhaps it was the manner, occasionally found in other satirical poems, encouraging a little play acting in recitation, which made it so popular. There are several German versions of it besides the Newes Koͤnig Fest, one of which, entitled Palatini Khoͤnigreich in der Fassnacht32, again declares ‘Erstlich gedruckt zu Antorff im Jahr 1621’. Was there an Antwerp engraved edition? It looks decidedly probable. The Bibliotheca Belgica records the second edition of the text under the title Coninc-brief33, consisting of an engraving which is unfortunately not described, and an enlarged version of the Coninck Feest poon. Only one copy bas been recorded, and this at the Provincial Library of Zealand at Middelburg which was very badly damaged in the last war. Its description in the Middelburg pamphlet catalogue survives34, but gives no more details than are found in the Bibliotheca Belgica. It certainly bore Verhoeven's imprint and the date 1621 and described itself as ‘Den tweeden druck, verbetert ende vermeerdert’, but its relationship with the Newes KoͤnigFest remains a mystery.

The German pamphlet's own very poor woodcut illustration of the head of Frederick with only the cap of the crown, adorned with a long feather, left on top, while the crown is seen tumbling down, is clearly derived from the much better woodcut of the same subject found on Verhoeven's newsletter which names the person ‘Coninck Lap’ (King Patch, i.e. Harlequin). It begins with the ex-king speaking: ‘Coninck Lappeken van corte rijcken, Ben ick ghevallen in Boheemsche lant, Aen mijne staet (eylaes) cant claerlijck blijcken, Want men mij ras wederom helpt van cant’ (King Harlequinnekin of short duration, I came a cropper in Bohemian land, It's clear to sec, alas, what is my station Now that they've given me the push with helping hand). It ends with the fool, Behtlehem Gabor, saying: ‘Als den

sot zijn marot heeft verloren, Dan is al zijn vreughde seer naer ghcdaen: Dan en comender gheen boetsen meer te voren, Maer moet dan weder cot-waerts druypen gaen’ (When the fool has lost his staff Then all his happiness is shed, No longer will he touch and chaff, But staggers home and hangs his head).

A German version of this dramatised satire with the title Koͤnigliche Hoffhaltung von Boͤhaimb Muth, Welche gefuͤhrt hat, eine kleine zeit der Haidelbergischer Churfuɤrst, vnd geraten in Armut, darumb man nicht allzeit sol folgen thun: In Reimweiss zuersehen, was jhme dem gewesenen Koͤnig gegeben worden ist fuͤr ein Lohn, Gedruckt im Jahr 162135, begins ‘Koͤnig gewesener Churfuͤrst von Haidlberg. Jn Boͤhaimb war ich zum Koͤnig gemacht, Solches mainer Gemahlen vil grosser Frewd bracht, Aber man halff vns wider bald daruon, Darumb wir jetzt, das gespoͤtt zum schaden han’. The reference to Frederick's queen, Princess Elizabeth of England, expresses a widely held belief that it was her ambition which had persuaded a reluctant Frederick to accept the crown of Bohemia36. A French version also exists of this piece, but unlikely to have been printed by Verhoeven, although he may have printed one which has so far escaped me. A copy in the Royal Library, The Hague, Knuttel 3053, with the title Iqyeux billets et rhimes pour creer le Roy, makes the king say: ‘En mon Royaume ay faict l'entrée, Mais il n'a eu longue durée: A mon estat on peut bien veoir Qu'ils ne me vueillent plus avoir’. Bethlehem Gabor's verse is: ‘Quand le Fol a perdu sa marotte Il perd ioye & reputation, Et qu'apres luy plus on ne trotte Il se tient dans son chapperon’. No date or place of publication is given, but the pamphlet appears similar to the Postilion reprint and could well have come from the same press. In all languages the verses are pretty uninspired, but Maurits Sabbe evidently enjoyed them37.

6. Occasionally Verhoeven reveals the source of his own publication. He does so with number 16 of 1621, publisbed in February. It has the title T'samen-sprekinghe tusschen dry princen, gehouden tot Worms. Vanden Tegenvvoordigen staet des Landts. Ouerghesedt vvt den Latyne in onse Nederlantsche sprake. Its

woodcut is related only insofar to the text as it shows three persons in an arcaded hall, one of whom is a Mohammedan holding a book, possibly the Koran, the other two, wearing long garments and bearing heraldic shields, have been interpreted by the Bibliotheca Belgica (vol. V. p. 501) as the Emperor and Empress. it is a much used and crude piece of work. The Bibliotheca Belgica does not identify the original from which it has been translated. This has in fact been published in a bilingual Latin and German pamphlet, Colloquium trium principum Wormatioe habitum de hodierno eorum statu. Eylfertiger vnd scharpffwitziger Rathschluss Dreyer Fursten, wie sie jhren bawfelligen Statum auss der Cassa der Bauren zwischen den Mauren under[stu]tzen mochten. It exists in at least two editions38, one of which bears the imprint ‘Getruckt zu Wormbs, bey Wolff Schneeberger39. Anno M.DC.XXI.’ The other, differing only slightly in its German spelling, but also dated 1621, adds between the Latin and German titles Ad calcem positus est Psalmus CXII. allegoricus ad eosdem spectans Principes. This satire on the disarray among the members of the Protestant Union after Frederick's defeat is much more spirited than the declamations in the Coninck Feest, and the division of the piece into short narrative broken by long direct speeches makes it at least as dramatic, with the added virtue of a clash of personalities and views. The Latin version begins: ‘Tres principes Imperii Nuper convenêre, In curia Wormatii, simul & dixêre: Spinola nos cogitat Armis subjugare. Quis nos tanto audeat Bello extricare’. In the third stanza they tell how the tables have been turned and the mockery they once practised is now practised against them: ‘Risimus Papiculas Ante hoc togatos, Illi nos ut lepores rident galeatos’, The German parallel version has these passages like this: ‘Es seynd drey Fuͤrsten in dem Reich Zu Wormbs zusammen kom̄en, Die hielten ein Gespraͤch zugleich Vnd sagten in einer Summen. Der Spinola wil vns durchauss Glcich all fuͤr Tode haben, Hilfft man vns nit aus diesem Strauss, So gilt es vnsern Kragen... Wir trieben alle vorzumal Das Glaͤchter auss den Pfaffen, Jetzt halten sie vns selber all Fuͤr Hasen vnd fuͤr Affen’ The princes are not specified and only designated as Primus, Alter, Tertius. The poem makes two of them counsel flight or submission to the Emperor to save their skins. But the third is all for carrying on the war, accusing the ottiers of coward-

ice. He admits that it is only a pretence to say they are fighting for their religion, since what they are really after is territorial aggrandisement. But that's what you tell people to keep them quiet and make them pay; in fact, their own coffers are now empty and they will have to get money from their subjects. Here a voice is heard belonging to a citizen speaking for the people, He had been hiding behind the stove and has heard it all. He now speaks out loudly that he and the likes of him have had enough and will no longer support princes who cheat and oppress them. In the imprindess edition the Psalmus allegoricus is printed, in Latin only, on the last page of the pamphlet. It begins: ‘In exitu Spinolae de Brabantia Domus Burgundiae de Hispania. Facta est Germania sanctificatio ejus. Anspach vidit & fugit: Wildenberg conversus est retrorsum Electores exultaverunt ut arietes: Et Catholici sicut agni ovium’. Later on come the lines: ‘Non Palatino; non Palatino: sed Caesari dedisti victoriam’. In the Dutch translation the princes are actually named as their turn to speak arises. The first is ‘Baden’, the second ‘Wirtenbergh’, the third ‘Anspach’. It begins; ‘Dry princen van het Keyser-rijck Die zijn by een ghecomen, Binnen Worms seer blijdelijck, Ende daer raet ghenomen: Spinola wilt ons lant en lien, Met wapenen bedwinghen, hoe sullen wy sonder schand ontvlien Al dees oorlooghsche dinghen’. And the third stanza goes; ‘De Paepen hebben wy begheckt Met haere lange rocken, Als hasen met een helm bedeckt die ons nv oock bejocken’. It is nice to see the Dutch following the Latin rhythmic scheme so faithfully and remaining closer to it also in vocabulary than the German version. The Psalmus has not been translated. It can therefore be assumed that it was the self-styled Worms edition, or one with the Latin text only, which served as a model for Verhoeven's translator. The Latin text without the Psalmus was reprinted in 1626 in a pamphlet published without an imprint, but certainly in Germany, entitled Appendicula Cippus ad tumulum Unionis erectum, etc, After the epitaph for this mock sepulchre there follows Colloquium trium Principum Wormatioe habitum, de moderno rerum statu. Ad imitationem cantionis: Duodecim presbyteri. The slight change in the title already indicates what the full text confirms, namely that there are a few changes in the text, usually for the worse. Is this a reprint from a different earlier edition, or are the changes due to the damaged state of the copy used? For damaged it must have been because one of the stanzas breaks off with a comma after the sixth line, without any attempt to supply the two missing lines. The German version on its own exists also in another form, with the title Ernstlich Gespraͤch

Dreyer Fuͤrsten, zu Wormbs newlich, von jetziger Zeit Wesen und Zustand, in geheim gehalten. Trewlich vom Original abcopiert, Durch Johann Warmund, von Wormbs. Faithfully copied, maybe, but not from the poem as it is printed in the Latin-German edition, Its first verse is: ‘Drey Fuͤrsten im Roͤmischen Reich, Seind newlich zsammen kommen, Zu Wormbs auff dem Rhathauss zugleich, haben fuͤr sich genommen, Zu sprachen vom schweren Zustand, Den Spinola hat erwecket, In dem er vnser Leut vnd Land, Alles under sich stecket’. And the turned tables stanza is here: ‘Wir haben dPfaffen aussgemacht, Da sie so friedlich waren, Itzt werden die Hasen aussgelacht, Die im Harnisch sich befahren, etc.’ It is a much weaker and clumsier poem than either the Latin or Dutch had been, Yet another German edition has the title Ein Gesprech von drey Fursten dess Reichs zu Wormbs gehalten, den jetzigen Standt so wol Jhr, als der Vnion betreffendt. Gesangsweiss gestellt. Im Thon, Wilhelmus von Nassawe, etc. M. Poenitentiarum infine Tract, de immaturis, & seris consilijs... Getruckt zu Rewlingen, im Jahr 1621. Its first stanza is: ‘Drey Fuͤrstn dess Roͤmischen Reichs, Seyndt kurtz zusamm kommen, Zu Wormbs eines Tags zugleich, Von jhn man vernommen, Wie Spinola wer gewilt, Ihr Landt zu occupiern. Durch was er moͤcht abgestilt Werden, zu consultiren’. And the third: ‘Der Papistn wir glachet han, Jn jhren langen Kappen: Sie vnser jetzt doch spottn thun Armirter Hasn vnd Affen’. This seems to occupy a position closer to the Latin, but is weaker than the German version accompanying it in the bilingual edition. I am at a loss to imagine how this last German version can be made to fit the tune of the Wilhelmus.

7-9. I shall now give an account of three Verhoeven issues of February 1621 which the Bibliotheca Belgica was unable to describe as there cannot have been any copies of them in the libraries consulted by Theodoor Arnold who only prints question marks with their numbers40, In fact, ont of them has since been mentioned by Maurits Sabbe, but without placing it in its series, and another was found by the same author in a later manuscript compilation in the Royal Library, Brussels, to which he refers

as the Chronyck van Nederlant (1535-1636)41. But Sabbe seems to have been unaware that this piece had come into print in the Verhoeven series. All three issues, numbers 19, 20 and 21 of 1621, have long been in the collection of the British Library (formerly British Museum), but their entries in the General Catalogue would have prevented their discovery by any scholar, however hard he tried; and I have long been sadly convinced that in former times, before the 1939-45 war, continental scholars tended to ignore the British Museum's holdings of their national literatures and therefore did not even try. They would have been found, as I found them, when examining the volumes containing consecutive issues of what the General Catalogue calls the Gazette of Antwerp.

The interesting aspect of this little group of issues and the one which serves me as an excuse for repcating to some extent what Sabbe has already said, is that they are the product of one particular author who, though not divulging his name, describes himself in words that can only apply to one and the same person.

7. The poem published as number 19 of 1621 has a rhyming couplet printed in four lines as title: Dat s' Pals-graven dvvaesheydt niet en is te verschoonen Sullen vvy den vromē Leser int cort gaen verthoonen. This is the title quoted by Sabbe from the manuscript chronicle. His transcript does not go on, as does the printed pamphlet, to explain the author of the piece: ‘Ghemaect door eenen Lief-hebber Godt wil hem verblijen; Hy soeckt de bekeering van die gheen Die de waerheydt bestrijen’ (How the Palatine's folly is doubted in vain Quite briefly, dear reader, we shall now explain. Composed by a Lover, may God give him joy, To convert the truth's enemies is his employ) ‘Eerst ghedruckt in Februarius, 1621’ Then follows the regular formula: ‘T'Hantwerpen, by Abraham Verhoeven, op de Lombaerde veste, inde gulde Sonne’. There is a rather crude titlepage woodcut showing two dogs pursuing a fox who is carrying what may be a lamb. The pamphlet is in the usual quarto format, consists of four leaves, with the text pages, beginning on the titlepage verso, numbered 2-8 and hearing the signature A. The poem addresses Frederick, reproaching him for treason: he has brought his own misfortunes upon himself by being the ally of Turks and atheists. His only hope is repentance and return to the Catholic faith, This is followed by the Aesopian fable of the dog who lost what he had by snatching for more as he crossed a bridge and saw his reflect-

ion in the water with what he believed to be a bigger pieee of meat. The titlepage woodcut was perhaps chosen for its suggestion of a dog fable. In an envoi the poet warns the Protestant princes of the wrath of God in store for them unless they gratefully accept his words of advice. All this takes us halfway through page six. The remainder contains another Liedeken without special title, but with a tune provided: ‘Quant sera ce ma maitresse’. It celebrates the victory of the White Mountain in seven stanzas and an envoi, all with the same refrain: let us sing Te Deum and not fear the enemy. The censor's signature is P.C.C.A., i.e. Petrus Coens Censor Antverpiensis.

8. Number 20, also headed Februarius 1621, has the four-line verse title Godt ter eeren, en den Marquis Spinola vaillant, Moer tot blaem van de lastreuse Ketters piquant, Die Godt en al sijn Heylighen blasphemeren, De Printen lastren, en de werelt turberen, followed by the authorship lines as before: ‘Ghemaect door eenen Lief-hebber Godt wil hem verblijen; Hy soect debekeering’ van die gheen Die de waerheyt bestrijen’ ( To the honour of God and of Marquis Spinola victorious, But shame to the slanderous heretics uproarious, Who God and all his saints go blaspheming, Their miers defy, the World trouble with scheming. Composed by a Lover, etc.). ‘Eerst ghedruckt in Februarius 1621 T'Hantwerpen, by Abraham Verhoeven, op de Lombaerde veste inde guide Sonne’. The titlepage woodcut shows a portrait of Spinola in armour holding a baton, bareheaded, with his helmet beside him, a portrait Verhoeven uses whenever he has an opportunity. The format is quarto, four leaves, signature A, the titlepage verso is blank and the text pages are numbered 3-7, the last page being again blank. The censor's signature is V.P.C.C.A., i.e. Vidit Petrus Coens Censor Antverpiensis. The poem addresses the Protestants in the usual rhetorical manner, mixing abuse, scriptural examples as warnings of dire disasters to come, and a final exhortation to repent and join the Catholic church. There is a refrain: ‘Viue Marquis Spinola die Godt wil geuen lanck leuen’ (Long live Marquis Spinola whom God give long life) at the end of each of the six stanzas, the last of which is an envoi.

9. Number 21 is also headed Februarius 1621. This is the piece which Sabbe saw as a Verhoeven issue42 and which he described as dull, an opinion I do not share. Once again, its title is a four-line verse: Een nieu Liedeken vande wilde vogelen strijt, Die sy onder een hebben, maer singhen Godt lof

altijt, Het gaet op de voys, willet wel onthouwen, Van der Kettren voorstaender, Wilhelmus van Nassouwen. Ghemaect door eenen Lief-hebber Godt wil hem verblijen, Hy soect de bekeering' van die gheen Die de waerheyt bestrijen (A pretty new song of the wild birds' row Which they make and still warble God's praise. It goes to the tune which will surely amaze Of the heretics' chief: Wilhelmus of Nassau. Composed by a Lover, etc.), ‘Eerst ghedruckt in Februarius 1621 T'Hantwerpen, By Abraham Verhoeuen, op de Lombaerde Veste, inde guide Sonne'. The censor's signature is again V.P.C.C.A. The titlepage woodcut shows a marshy ground rich in flora in which stands a stork in the typical emblematic attitude of keeping himself awake and vigilant on one leg while holding a stone in the other, raised, foot. This same stork was and still is the heraldic beast of the city of The Hague - and who was more vigilant for freedom than the people of Holland? But here it is used against the Calvinists and it is unusually well executed, in its modest way, compared with the general run uf Verhoeven woodcuts without immediately conveying a sense of satire. The pamphlet is the usual quarto of four leaves, signed A, the text-pages numbered 2-8, beginning with the titlepage verso as did number 19. The title poem, truly in the rhythm of the Wilhelmus, tells the allegorical story of the birds rebelling agains their emperor, the eagle, all glory to him, who will defeat them. The gulls, fearing a storm on the Rhine and desirous to protect Holland have al as persuaded the young stork, Frederick, to take the Bohemian rebels' side. He has left his own nest in order to be elected King by these treacherous birds who will yet leave him in the lurch one day. However naive, it makes an ornithologist's field-day. Woodpecker and night owl, raven and rooks no longer hide under the eagle's wings, the cuckoo thinks highly ol the Union, the bittern booms loudly frorn the clump of irises in the marsh to summon assistance for the stork who is now very much frightened (how many bitterns, one wonders, could an Antwerp poet nowadays observe in his neighbourhood?). But the cocks forespell bad weather and decide to wait and see, the little songbirds are perplexed and call to have the stork driven out before he swallows them all. And so it goes on until the sparrowhawks and falcons arrive to fight for the eagle. Not only does the crane remain loyal to his oath to serve the empire, but the ostrich of noble lineage refuses as well to commit perjury. From the exotic the poet proceeds to the mythical: the gryphon flies to Germany, well rnay the stork tremble and shake with fear. With such enemies the stork doesn't stand a chance. He is driven out from his nest

and his eggs are cast out. His allies too are at the mercy of the eagle's warriors. In short, ye birds, stop your quarrel then, the eagle is bound to triumph and therefore, says the poet, abandon the stork to his fate and join the eagle's ranks. Now, just in case any one has failed to understand the allegory, there follows a six-line stanza in different metre to make it all abundantly clear. The only thing that distinguishes the rebellions birds from rebellious men is that they at least do not blaspheme.

To my mind the Nieu liedeken is the most original and the most amusing of the three poetic issues here described, although, like the other two, it conforms to the formula of abuse follovved by earnest exhortation and the injunction that the opponents should repent their ways and return to the fold of the Catholic church.

10. I have not found any other poems by the ‘Lief-hebber Godt wil hem verblijen’. It is just possible that he may be the same as the plain ‘Lief-hebber’ who wrote number 4 of 1621, published on 15 January and entitled Een cort verhael van eenen nieuwen draeck ende afgoden van Hollant... Ende oock van diegroote Victorie... Ghestelt in Rijme seer ghenuechlijck om te lesen. Ghemaeckt door eenen Lief-hebber, etc. (sic) (A short relation of a new dragon and idol of Holland... and also of the great victory... Put into rhyme very pleasing to read. Gornposed by a Lover, etc.). The First part of this issue deals with the religions differences in Holland to which also the woodcut refers which shows the dragon wilh seven necks, but only six heads, who is the God of the Calvinists. The seventh head has been cut off and lies on the ground next to a crown, which identifies him as Frederick. The woodcut and its engraved model have been sufficiently explained in the lilerature43. Here the parts of the design bearing letters for identification have lheir definitions printed above the woodcut itself in the space which might otherwise have been used to print the full authorship descriptive lines: ‘Godt wil hem verblijen’ and so on, hcre possibly implied in the ‘etc.’, Perhaps a literary historian's investigation could come to a conclusion one way or the other; the bibliographer can only point out this possibility. The same poet may even be responsible for other Verhoeven poems and who knows, he may one day be identified. His particular zeal for the conversion of

heretics reminds me of Joannes Hemelarius of whom Sabbe44 tells in connection with the circle of humanists at Antwerp around Aubert Le Mire, himself a Verhoeven author45. This Hemelarius was a recent convert to Catholicism, having been brought up as a Calvinist by his father, and according to Sabbe he made it his special purpose in life to convert as many other Calvinists as he could. This zeal would make him eligible for the position of the ‘Lief-hebber’ who characterises himself as obsessed by the same desire. If the ‘Lief-hebber’ is not Hemelarius he is some one of very similar attitude.

 

I wish to express my thanks to my colleague Mr. David L. Paisey for his invaluable advice on the literature concerning German publications mentioned in this essay.

Samenvatting

Dit opstel behandelt enkele aspekten der Tijdingen uitgegeven door Abraham Verhoeven te Antwerpen in de jaren 1620-1621. Na algemene bemerkingen over de hele reeks worden diverse uitgaven individueel besproken. De belangstelling is hier uitgegaan naar het leggen van verbanden: tussen nieuws en satire, gravures en houtsneden, teksten in verschillende talen, tussen de uitgaven van Verhoeven en andere Nederlandse of buitenlandse stukken van dezelfde aard. Een groepje tot nu toe onvolledig of niet beschreven spotgedichten word aan een en dezelfde aureur Joannes Hemelarius?) toegeschreven.


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